Pakistan Cricket Board

Cricket takes pride of place in Pakistan’s sports history because this was the first sport in which the newly-born independent state made its debut at the international level. Early in 1948, through the efforts of Mr. Justice A.R. Cornelius, rightly dubbed the Father of Pakistan Cricket, the West Indies team touring India was invited for a “detour” of Pakistan. Under the leadership of the late Mian Mohammad Saeed, Pakistan made an impressive showing in the first-ever unofficial Test played on the picturesque Bagh-I-Jinnah ground in Lahore. Skipper Mian Saeed scored a century in this drawn match.

In the winter of 1951-52, Pakistan gained her spurs and staked a claim for full-fledged membership of the -then Imperial Cricket Conference (rechristened as International Cricket Conference or ICC for short) when under the captaincy of Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistan beat the touring MCC “A” team by 4 wickets in the representative match at Karachi. This helped Pakistan gain official Test status and membership of the ICC in 1952.

In the first official series played in India, Pakistan beat India in the second Test at Lucknow by an innings, a victory which justified Pakistan’s hard-won official Test status. It was the fore-runner of a unique achievement a win over every other member country of the ICC. This feat still remains unmatched in the annals of Test Cricket.

Pakistan has come a long way since attaining official Test status over years ago. It is celebrating its Golden Jubilee on completing of 50 years in the test cricket (1952-2002-3 season). Pakistan is rated among the top cricket-playing countries of the World. For this it is indebted to some of the greatest players born in this part 0 f t he sub-continent. Such world famous players as Fazal, Imtiaz, Hanif. Kardar, Saeed, Burki, Mushtaq Asif, Zaheer, Majid, Imran, Sarfraz, Intikhab, Wasim Bari, Wasim Raja, Miandad, Mudassar Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and a host of lesser luminaries played for Pakistan at the highest level and won for their country’s team laurels and honours.

The current management of the Pakistan Cricket Board which is headed by Lt. General Tauqir Zia, has during its tenure of over 3 years taken a number of measures to improve the cricket infrastructure and reorganize the administrative structure of the board and domestic cricket. A new constitution, has been framed in keeping with the devolution of power in the country and is to be implemented soon. It is based on district level bodies instead of regional or zonal associations, thus considerally broadening the base of cricket in Pakistan. It has also taken steps to emphasize the renewal of club and school cricket and to devise a new format for the domestic cricket. The new concept consists of first class tournaments, like Super League and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. In the one day cricket there is also a Supper League and Patron’s Cup.

Among the non-first class competitions, Kardar Trophy (Patron’s Trophy Grade-II) Cornelius Trophy (Quaid-e-Azam Trophy G-II) and PCB Trophy (New addition Grade III) are included. Besides this, junior competitions of U-19 grade-I non-first class U-19 Grade-I, U-19 Grade-II, U-19 Grade-III are scheduled to provide a flurry of cricket activity on the national level. The setting up of a national Cricket Academy, Regional Academies at Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Sheikhupura, and a massive development of cricket infrastructure envisaging upgrading cricket stadium, Grounds and ancillary facilities are the salient features of Pakistan Cricket.